coreutils: Setting the time

1 
1 21.1.5 Setting the time
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1 
1 If given an argument that does not start with ‘+’, ‘date’ sets the
1 system clock to the date and time specified by that argument (as
1 described below).  You must have appropriate privileges to set the
1 system clock.  Note for changes to persist across a reboot, the hardware
1 clock may need to be updated from the system clock, which might not
1 happen automatically on your system.
1 
1    The argument must consist entirely of digits, which have the
1 following meaning:
1 
1 ‘MM’
1      month
1 ‘DD’
1      day within month
1 ‘hh’
1      hour
1 ‘mm’
1      minute
1 ‘CC’
1      first two digits of year (optional)
1 ‘YY’
1      last two digits of year (optional)
1 ‘ss’
1      second (optional)
1 
1    Note, the ‘--date’ and ‘--set’ options may not be used with an
1 argument in the above format.  The ‘--universal’ option may be used with
1 such an argument to indicate that the specified date and time are
1 relative to Universal Time rather than to the local time zone.
1